War of Hearts
by eliadealegria
Summary: For the past 4 years, Aurora has gone unnoticed in Hogwarts. With only 3 years left, Aurora hopes to maintain the peace, unaware that all of that is about to change in Year 5. Her normal, structured life becomes chaotic with a strange prophecy that she and her friends must figure out before it's too late. But can they?


Prologue:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had been Aurora Stewart's home for the past four years. Nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened, which was fine with her. She liked routine and normalcy, and her biggest goal was to make it through school without anything interrupting those things and without anyone paying too much attention to her. She wasn't the best in her classes, or in her house of Ravenclaw, but she still maintained her high marks thanks to her persistence, dedication, and long hours at the library.

Little did she know what was in store for her in her fifth year…

Chapter One

Fifth-year was going to be one of the most stressful years for all students. It was the year that they had to take a multitude of classes which meant they also had rolls upon rolls of homework for each of their classes. It was the year of the O.W.L exams (Ordinary Wizarding Levels), which would then determine what N.E.W.T (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test) courses they could take to further their education.

The part that terrified Aurora the most wasn't the course load, it was whether or not she had studied enough beforehand to ensure that she could keep her grades up. For some Ravenclaws, studying was easy and came naturally to them. For her, however, she had to spend countless hours practicing on her own either in her dorm our outside in the courtyard, or holed up in the library. She busted her butt off, sometimes forgetting to eat. She envied those that were gifted but knew that she was just as intelligent as they were, so she worked hard to prove it.

Aurora had already changed into her robes and was headed to the Great Hall where the other students had already gathered. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky, black with twinkling stars. Candles floated above them, their flames glowing and lighting up the place along with the sconces on the walls.

It was almost time for The Sorting. Aurora took a seat at the Ravenclaw table next to another student. She looked down the long table and found the Sorting Hat perched on the stool. Memories came flooding back to her at her own Sorting.

Walking up to the Sorting Hat had been one of the most terrifying moments of her life. So many thoughts were buzzing around her head when she sat on that stool. Once the hat was on her head even he had a hard time placing her.

"Hmm…Very curious. You have a great mind and good work ethics but have a huge determination to prove yourself to others. You are also loyal and I see you have lots of bravery. You are not without kindness and fairness either."

That meant that she could be in any house! Aurora gazed out at all the students that were watching her and panicked. She just wanted to be in a house that would accept her fully, however weird she was—as the students in her other school had often told her. She wanted to be somewhere that she could just be herself and be left to her own devices.

"Hmm…In that case, better be…Ravenclaw!"

Aurora's attention snapped back to the present when she heard Headmaster Underhill's voice greeting the returning students and introducing the First Years. All eyes turned to the students being led by Professor Longbottom, the Herbology professor. Was it her imagination, or did the First Years look smaller and more terrified than the previous year?

The Sorting normally took a while, so she returned her attention to the students in the Great Hall, finally noticing the boy that she was sitting next to. He wasn't paying attention to The Sorting either, his eyes down, reading a book that lay open on the table. It was one of their spellbooks for Care of Magical Creatures. It looked like she wasn't the only one who wanted to be prepared for classes tomorrow.

He had impeccably styled jet-black hair, some of his hair was in front of his forehead, but he ignored it. She felt like she knew him from somewhere, but she couldn't place where. At least, not until she read the passage he was reading about Kneazles. Ah, he was in the same year as she was, but she couldn't really remember his name. She was terrible at remembering people's names.

His white Persian cat was curled up on his lap, sleeping. She remembered his cat! She had an aristocratic-sounding name and an English one at that. What was it again? Queen…it had to do with a queen. Yes! Elizabeth 3rd! A grin of triumph spread across her face, she wanted to pump her fist in the air but refrained from doing so.

As if sensing her eyes on him, he turned his head slightly and regarded her with cool grey eyes. She had long dark auburn hair that ended mid-back and sapphire blue eyes. She was pretty, but that didn't sway him. Other than that, there was nothing significant about her. She swallowed nervously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, her heart suddenly felt like it had stopped. He was one of the Korean students, though his English was almost perfect despite a slight accent.

He didn't return her smile.

"I—I was just admiring your cat," she said, trying to hide the tremor from her voice. She was speaking to the Ice Prince, as everyone called him. _I was just admiring your cat?_ What the hell is wrong with you, Aurora?

Countless times girls from all houses had confessed their love for him, left him notes, chocolates, and other gifts, but he never reciprocated those feelings. On more than one occasion, she had also seen him leaving the gifts in the Ravenclaw Common Room for the other students to enjoy, but she didn't know what he did with the girls' letters. He always kept to himself, except to talk to his best friend, who happened to be a Hufflepuff. She forgot his name, but he had green colored hair and green eyes. He too was handsome, but not as popular as the Ice Prince or the Greek God of Gryffindor—as everyone else called them.

When he didn't say anything, she bit the inside of her lip.

"Elizabeth 3rd, right?" she asked.

He continued regarding her, his face impassive.

"Yes," he finally answered.

Relief flooded through her. Thank God. He continued staring at her, making her uncomfortable, but she willed herself to keep looking into his eyes. The problem was, he was so good-looking that the inside of her head felt like it was turning into a pile of goo, rendering her incapable of speech.

"My cat's name is Juniper."

At the sound of his name, Juniper poked his head out of her robes and let out a 'meow.' He wasn't as fancy as Elizabeth 3rd, just a regular black cat with bright green eyes. Honestly, she wanted to name him Toothless, but she decided that people would ask her too many questions, so she settled with Juniper instead. He jumped out of her robes and sat on the bench in the small space between them and sniffed Jumin's robes, then rubbed himself against the boy.

Stunned, Aurora sucked in a shaky breath. Juniper hated other people! He had _never_ done anything like this before. Aurora raised her eyes at the boy and saw him smile. He actually smiled! No one had ever seen him smile before. Her heart leaped happily as she noticed how a simple smile changed his entire face.

"Hello, Juniper. It's nice to meet you." The boy reached out and stroked Juniper's soft fur. Her shy cat let out a purr, stretching his neck up to better access the boy's hands.

"He doesn't like people very much," she explained. "I'm really surprised that he's not afraid of you."

"Animals are highly intuitive," he said coolly.

Aurora cocked her head slightly to get a better view of his face. She knew that, but that didn't change the fact that Juniper avoided people like they were zombies trying to eat his brains. He didn't even like the other fellow animal lovers in Ravenclaw or any of the other houses.

"Too bad people can't be more intuitive," she mumbled under her breath.

"Indeed," he agreed. Their eyes met and her breath caught in her throat.

Yup, she could not act normally around good-looking boys. It wasn't that she had a crush on them or anything, but they just made her so unusually nervous and act stupid. It was official. She was declaring a state of emergency. She was highly allergic to good-looking boys.

"I'm Aurora Stewart," she finally said, stretching out her hand.

"Jumin Han." He took her hand in his delicately, shaking it. His hands were soft, his fingers long and elegant.

Get a grip! she told herself sternly.

Food and drink appeared on the tables, signaling the start of their feast. Jumin and Aurora helped themselves to some roast beef and rolls but didn't speak to each other for the rest of the evening.

Even after the meal, Jumin and Elizabeth 3rd left first with Aurora following behind, watching Jumin's straight back ahead of her. There was something so regal about him like he really was a prince. Aurora clasped her hands together and continued walking back to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Besides the library and the courtyard, Aurora's favorite place was the Ravenclaw Common Room. It was on the west side of Hogwarts and at the top of a spiral staircase. The door consisted only of a bronze knocker of an Eagle. Inside, the floors were a dark polished hardwood with matching tables. Various dark blue eighteenth century-looking sofas and chairs were positioned about the room on large dark blue and bronze-colored rugs. A large chandelier hung in the center of the room, the candlelight enchanted as well as the ceiling, which mimicked nebulas and stars. A roaring fire was at the center of the wall, two bronze statues of eagles on either side of the mantle. A large window was at the far end of the room, overlooking the school grounds. There was also a window seat there complete with dark blue cushions and dark blue end pillows with the Ravenclaw eagle printed on the front.

There were two staircases that led upstairs onto a landing that overlooked the Common Room where some desks and chairs were located for students to complete their homework or read. The left side led to the girl' dormitory and the right to the boys'. Jumin and Elizabeth 3rd headed to the right while Aurora and Juniper went up the stairs to the left.

She quickly changed out of her robes and into her favorite silk sleep shirt. It was a black knee-length silk kimono-style robe with a cherry blossom tree on the right side, its branches covered in cherry blossoms with a pink silk sash to tie around the waist. She closed the dark blue curtains of her four-poster bed and flopped on her back, pulling up the covers.

It was only the first day back and her routine was already different. She had spoken to someone at the feast. Not just anyone. The Ice Prince. Jumin Han. She covered her face with her hands as Juniper curled up next to her and promptly fell asleep. Regardless, she wasn't like other girls. She wasn't here to try and find her 'true love'. What a bunch of rubbish. She was at Hogwarts to get an education and show the world her skills, but while she remained here, she would much rather go unnoticed and silently prayed that this would continue.


End file.
